Vinnie Jones delighted with response to CPR campaign

Movie hardman VINNIE JONES has spoken of his pride after learning 28 lives have been saved thanks to his quirky health campaign to promote a resuscitation technique.

The Snatch star appeared in a promotional drive for the British Heart Foundation's campaign, which aims to teach the public about a "kiss-free" alternative to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Bosses at the organisation advise using the rhythm of the Bee Gees hit Stayin' Alive when carrying out the CPR procedure, and Jones demonstrates the technique in a video for the campaign.

It has now been revealed 28 people have contacted the organisation to reveal the advice has helped save a life - and Jones, who has since met a group of men and women who were assisted by his clip, is thrilled with the response.

Speaking on Daybreak via video link from Los Angeles, he says, "Well obviously it's great, we just re-shot the commercial... and I got to meet some of the people which really makes it personal.

"Obviously it's a wonderful thing that we've done, and fair play to the British Heart Foundation for putting it out there. I was privileged to be involved with the commercial. They came to me, I was an obvious choice obviously because my wife Tanya had a heart transplant 25 years ago, I think that was the main connection. We welcomed it with open arms."

Jones also reveals a new version of the video has been filmed to encourage children to tackle the life-saving technique: "The new commercial, we're gonna run one on the Internet, we've got a mini Vinnie that's gonna be doing it - it shows the kids at school that they will be able to do this and it's not as hard as it looks, as we say in the commercial."